WHAT IS THE CASE ABOUT?
There are State employees in two parallel personnel systems, one for general government agencies and one for higher education institutions. This case is a class action on behalf of all state workers at general government agencies or at higher education institutions who perform the same duties but are paid a lower basic salary range than their counterparts in corresponding job classes in other personnel system (i.e., either general government or higher education). Thus, the case challenged the fact that state workers in these "common classes" were performing "equal work" but were not being paid "equal pay." The case sought back pay and a change in the compensation system.
WHAT BENEFITS DOES THE SETTLEMENT PROVIDE?
The settlement provides for a total of $30 million for backpay and for fixing the problem of unequal pay over the next 5 years. Of this amount, $20,994,000 will be used to provide back pay to over 10,000 employees who worked during the period from October, 1996 through June 30, 2005. The settlement agreement calls for the remaining $9,006,000 to be used to equalize, over a five-year period, all current common classes where there remain any pay disparities. (However, see below for recent development accelerating the implementation of prospective relief.) These monies will also be used to increase salaries for other classes (known as "series classes") that are in the same job series as common classes in order to maintain historical salary alignments within job series. A copy of the full agreement may be found here. The settlement is contingent upon court approval.
WILL MY JOB CLASS BENEFIT FROM THE SETTLEMENT?
A list of the common and series job classes that will be equalized over the next five years may be found here. A list of the common job classes that will receive back pay may be found here.
WHY ARE MORE JOB CLASSES ELIGIBLE FOR BACK PAY THAN ARE ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALARY EQUALIZATION?
Many job classes have already been abolished or equalized since this lawsuit was started in 1999. Accordingly, there are fewer job classes now that require salary equalization. Once this settlement is fully implemented, the pay disparities among common classes will no longer exist.
I AM IN A JOB CLASS THAT IS ENTITLED TO BACK PAY. HOW MUCH BACK PAY WILL I RECEIVE?
We do not know at this time, in part because the amount of back pay will depend on the length of time you were employed in the affected job class, and the pay disparities between your job class and the higher paid counterpart in the other personnel system. In addition, the settlement funds also will be used to pay all taxes and premiums on retirement pensions.
HAS THE SETTLEMENT BEEN APPROVED?
In late October, 2006, the Court gave final approval to the settlement.
WHEN WILL THE PROSPECTIVE RELIEF GO INTO EFFECT?
Part of it already has gone into effect. In December, 2006, the first phase of prospective relief went into effect, with the result that all common classes which still suffer from pay disparities were increased by one salary range. This change was made effective back to July 2006. Under the settlement agreement, the remaining prospective relief was slated to go into effect over the next four years, assuming legislative approval. However, due to recent collective bargaining between the State and Unions representing state employees, the State has agreed to accelerate this equalization. Accordingly, assuming legislative approval in the 2007 Legislative Session, all remaining common classes with pay disparities will be equalized effective July, 2007 for union-represented employees and September 1, 2007 for non-represented employees.
With respect to the back pay component of the settlement, if you are eligible for such monies, you will receive a second notice by Spring 2007 advising you of the information on file about your eligible job class(es)and the time period during which you worked in such eligible class(es). You will be given an opportunity to make corrections to such information. Thereafter, the settlement Administrator will make the necessary calculations and mail out the checks.
HAS ALL OF THE $30 MILLION ALREADY BEEN APPROPRIATED BY THE LEGISLATURE?
No. The 2006 Legislature appropriated a total of $22,502,000 to fund the retrospective relief (i.e., the back pay, associated taxes and other obligations), as well as $1,502,000 to fund the first year of prospective relief to begin the equalization of the affected common and series classes. The remaining amount to equalize all common classes will have to be funded by the 2007 Legislature.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE LEGISLATURE DOES NOT APPROPRIATE THE REST OF THE MONEY?
If the Legislature does not appropriate the money necessary to complete the equalization of basic salaries of the common classes, the affected employees will be able to bring a new lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the unequal pay.
WHY ISN'T MY JOB CLASS ON EITHER THE LIST OF CLASSES GETTING EITHER BACK PAY NOR AMONG THE CLASSES TO BE EQUALIZED IN THE FUTURE
The list of common classes (i.e., those job classes who are assigned lower basic salary ranges than their counterparts performing the same work in either general government or higher education) was created by an administrative committee (known as the "Warner Committee") in 2000. This Committee was made up of human resource staff persons from various agencies and some unions. The settlement agreement used the work product of this Committee to determine the list of affected common classes.
If your job class is not included, it cannot be added to the settlement. You should be aware, however, that if your job class is not listed, you are not precluded in any way from challenging your pay status on your own.
WHY ARE "SERIES CLASSES" PART OF THE SETTLEMENT
The "series classes" occur in the follow scenario: some common job classes appear in job series where there is more than one job class (e.g., general government Paralegal 1, 2, and 3). The comparable job series in the other personnel system contains only a single job class (e.g., higher education Legal Assistant). In this example, the GG Paralegal 1 is common to, and assigned to a lower basic salary range than, the HE Legal Assistant. The GG Paralegal 2 and 3 are called the "series classes" and, under the settlement, will have their salary ranges increased over the next five years to ensure that the Paralegal 1 does not earn more than the Paralegal 2 and 3. The employees in the series classes will not receive back pay, however, because they are not among the classes that were alleged in this lawsuit to be unlawfully paid.
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